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  3. On a clear, cold day in early March 2019, Justin Jordan, a fifth-generation grower in Lacona, Iowa, reads attentively old maps s

On a clear, cold day in early March 2019, Justin Jordan, a fifth-generation grower in Lacona, Iowa, reads attentively old maps s

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问题     On a clear, cold day in early March 2019, Justin Jordan, a fifth-generation grower in Lacona, Iowa, reads attentively old maps spread across his dining-room table. One creased, yellowing chart shows a soil-conservation plan his grandfather created with the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) in the 1950s, including terraces for controlling erosion and areas designated for tree planting. The agency was working to reverse critical topsoil loss from decades of mass-scale plowing.
    His grandfather implemented part of the scheme. But new synthetic fertilizers, which could boost yields by 50 percent, made the situation less terrible, so he continued cultivating their corn and soybean fields each year. As did Jordan’s dad, and most other farmers. Over the past 150 years, cultivation has chewed up about half of Earth’s topsoil.
    Jordan, an polite, soft-spoken man in his late 30s, stopped plowing and began planting cover crops when he took over in the early 2000s. "I was eager to do things in a different way," he says. "It just seemed like every year the topsoil was getting thinner." Jordan tends 410 acres—larger than most farms selling vegetables at Saturday markets, but tiny compared with 10,000-acre corporate operations.
    Aerial photos show the contrast between his land and that of other farmers, most of whom continue deep cultivation. His soil is dark and rich, but from the air, his fields appear lighter, covered in accumulated mulch (护根物). Strips of hay grass (for his cattle) and native prairie species cover across the slopes-year-round plants that pump carbon into the soil. Neighboring barren fields steadily release it.
    Once Jordan brings in his corn in October, he sows a cover of rye (黑麦) among the drying stalks that stays green through the following spring, when he cuts it down and seeds next year’s crop in the mulch. He sprinkles his soybean fields before the September harvest with a cocktail of rye, radishes, and oats, creating a mini forest beneath the knee-high cash crop. With all these changes, his yields have remained roughly the same as his neighbors’.
    Soon, folks like Jordan might gain a financial edge. The Terraton Initiative, the nation’s first carbon market dedicated to agriculture, launched in June 2019 out of the farm-tech startup Indigo Ag. Companies that want to offset their emissions purchase credits; Terraton then pays growers $15 per ton for the carbon their land captures. Within six months, farmers tending a total of 10 million acres worldwide expressed interest in signing up.
    More cash would be nice, but climate change is the motivating factor for Jordan—out of global concern, and to keep his harvest from washing away.
What do we know about the old chart?
选项 A、It was about ecological agriculture.
B、It was made in early March of 2019.
C、It was designed by the author’s father.
D、It was made together with government.
答案D
解析 根据题干中的信息词the old chart，可以把答题线索定位到文章首段。第一段提到，贾斯汀.乔丹专注地翻看餐桌上摊开的旧地图，其中一张泛黄、褶皱的图表显示的是他的祖父在20世纪50年代与美国农业部共同制定的土壤保护计划，包括控制水土流失的梯田和指定的植树区域。由此可知，这张图是他的祖父与美国农业部一起绘制的，故本题应选D。
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大学英语六级

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